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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22459291">Brave Enough</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonRiderKira/pseuds/DragonRiderKira'>DragonRiderKira</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Shattered [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>RWBY</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Canonical Character Death, Emotional Hurt, F/F, M/M, Mental Anguish, Mental Health Issues, Missed Chance, Multi, References to Depression, post vol7 ep12, supportive family</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 17:08:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,217</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22459291</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonRiderKira/pseuds/DragonRiderKira</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Qrow has shattered, but he has found his kids and is glad they are safe. Now he has to warn them.</p><p>This was to help with the emotional upheaval that EP. 12 did to me and the Fair Game ship. I don’t understand how they could do this to Qrow! So this is his interactions with the kids after his confrontation with Ironwood. We also get the kids perspective.</p><p>This was partly inspired by the song Brave Enough by Lindsey Stirling.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Shattered [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1616038</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>61</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Brave Enough</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Warning now that if you are not in a good head space right now you might not want to read this. I am doing this from Qrows' POV and I will be blunt and say that he is not coping properly here. This has hint of depression and mental break possibly. Once again this is to help deal with the emotional upheaval that I am experiencing from the episode.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Uncle Qrow!” yelled Ruby in relief as she and her sister ran to him, fling their arms around him and embracing him with all their might. They were ok, they were together and whole and he felt a little warmth at feeling their hugs. The only people left that he would do anything for were his kids, all eight of them, and they were going to live through this no matter what came at him.</p><p>“I’m glad you all are safe,” he stated with as much of the warmth he could feel.</p><p>Ruby glanced up at him, eyes wide. Her uncles’ face held no emotion, he looked paler than ever and he had tear tracks running down his face. He smelled a bit like smoke and blood, but there were no visible injuries that she could see. Then she saw the blood on Harbinger. “Uncle Qrow, what happened to you?”</p><p>Yang looked at her sister before also turning her eyes to him, she saw an expression she had never wanted to see again. That was the same expression that their dad wore when he thought no one was looking, back when Summer Rose died. Her uncle wasn’t hiding his though.</p><p>He retracted Harbinger and brought his hand to rest on their cheeks, “I know we don’t have a lot of time, so I will try to tell you as much as I can. We had Tyrian and were transporting him, but after your announcement an arrest warrant went out on all of you and me. Clover was going to arrest me, a fight broke out, and Tyrian crashed the ship.” He could feel the guilt and anguish filling his heart and mind as he spoke. It felt like he was being shredded into even smaller pieces. “Clover tried to ask me to come quietly, but I refused, you guys were in trouble and I couldn’t let him. We fought, the Tyrian showed up free, I went to fight Tyrian, but Clover tried fighting both of us. It turned into a three-way fight, then Clover against Tyrian and myself.”</p><p>The sister’s eyes widen as they listen, this couldn’t be real. Ruby didn’t know what happened, she felt dread filling her heart. Yang knew where this was going, but prayed she was wrong. She brought her hand to his and held it as tightly as she could. She saw the signs, what was happening between her uncle and Clover.</p><p>“Clover got my weapon out of my hands, and punched him taking out his aura. We were so angry at each other that we took our eyes off Tyrian.” Qrow said quietly. He was so numb that he barely realized that tears were slowly flowing down his cheeks for a third time that night. “Tyrian killed Clover with Harbinger. Clover’s dead.”</p><p>Their mouths dropped open at seeing the tears on his face, but encircled him in their arms and held him tight at his announcement. They could hardly believe this, any of this. Everything was falling apart around them, and now their uncle had lost the one person who made him smile. Silver and lavender eyes lifted up, mouths opening as they pulled away, but were stopped with fingers pressed against their lips.</p><p>“Please listen to me? I know what you girls will want to ask or say, so I am going to be blunt with you. I am not ok. I don’t know if I ever will be. I am going to kill Tyrian; he needs to pay for his roll in all of this. After that I don’t know what will happen, I could start drinking, I could lose my mind or all sense of self. I don’t know if I will make it through this war,” whispered Qrow as he moved his hands back to their cheeks as their eyes teared up. “I already felt myself shatter, and I know I will shatter again. My heart is shattered and I know the pieces can’t all be put back together as much as we want them to be. So please, please understand that if I slip away it is not because I don’t love our family any more. I will try as best I can to make it through this war, but I lost someone that… I love, and now it’s too late. Please forgive this old bird in advance?”</p><p>The girls looked to one another holding back their tears, there was no time. It was surprising enough that they had not been found or interrupted during this talk. Their uncle is a strong person, but he is someone who admits or doesn’t hide his problems or issues. He was an open functioning alcoholic for most of their lives after all. They know that he is saying that he will or is compromised and that there may be nothing they can do about it. He knows they love him and that they want him to keep going, but it might not be enough unfortunately. Both girls know that he has had so many people let him down.</p><p>“We’re sorry Uncle Qrow, but we will be here for you every step of the way no matter what. We love you,” stated Ruby with a sad smile. Yang nodded her head before putting it down in deep thought.</p><p>“Guys we need to move now!” came a Jaunes’ voice as he looked at his scroll. He looked Qrow in the eyes and gave a sympathetic nod. He may have been furious with the man for being one of the men to talk to Pyrrha about becoming the fall maiden, but he would have never wanted to wish this kind of fate down on the man. He hoped the man could make it through the war.</p><p>They all took off, following Ruby and Oscar’s lead. At one point when they were waiting to get through a section Yang felt a tap on her shoulder from her Uncle.</p><p>“You need to tell her.” He stated simply, face still unfortunately emotionless even though his eyes were look right into hers. They were brighter before this day.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Tell her Yang, you need to tell her soon. You may both make it to the end of the war, but you should tell her. Don’t question yourself, don’t wait, be brave. You are brave, Firecracker. Braver than me,” he stated calmly.</p><p>She looked at Blake and felt her heart skip a beat in both love and fear. She loved her partner to the ends of Remnant and back. Even when she had disappeared, and Yang was full of anger she still felt love. She glanced back at her Uncle Qrow and answered, “I will.”</p><p>He nodded his head as they geared to head quickly through the cleared section now. Then she whispered to him.</p><p>“You are brave enough in my opinion Uncle Qrow.”</p><p>His dull red eyes widen a bit at that, before they were off and running again. Thinking to himself, “No I’m not. I wish I had been, but I wasn’t brave enough to love, and now I will never know.”</p><p>
  <em>Brave enough to love you<br/>
Stripped away the walls I built<br/>
Like no one ever has<br/>
The hardest part's we'll never know<br/>
If we were meant to last</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Brave Enough by Lindsey Stirling</em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The Next one will more than likely be Qrow finally confronting Tyrian. It might not happen until after the season finale.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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